


Four Weddings and a Ja'loja

by sidewinder



Category: The Orville (TV)
Genre: 4 Things, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-07-23 05:27:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20003044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sidewinder/pseuds/sidewinder
Summary: Everything in the right time, and the right place.





	Four Weddings and a Ja'loja

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mimm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mimm/gifts).



**I.**

“How do I look?”

“You look terrific. Perfect.”

“You’re sure.”

“Heck yeah, I’m sure! Would I, your best man _and_ your best friend, lie to you on a day like today?” Gordon grinned and put what he hoped was a reassuring hand on Ed’s shoulder. “C’mon, relax, man. Take some deep breaths. You look fine and everything is going to go off without a hitch. Except for, you know, actually _getting_ hitched, since that’s the point of all this.”

Ed frowned. “Two seconds ago you said I looked terrific. ‘Perfect’. Now I’m merely ‘fine’?”

“Ed, if you don’t knock it off I’m going to knock _you_ out cold until it’s time to walk down the aisle.”

“Sorry. Sorry. I don’t know why I’m so nervous.”

“Because it’s the most important day of your life? If you weren’t nervous about that, then _I’d_ be the one worrying. But you can’t let your nerves ruin things.” At this rate Ed was going to sweat straight through his dress blues and that would definitely _not_ look good in the wedding holograms. “Listen, we’ve got a few minutes before our ride arrives, so how about a drink? A little something to take the edge off.”

“A drink sounds amazing right about now. Nothing too strong, though. I’d like to actually be able to remember my wedding day.”

“Don’t worry, I know just what the doctor ordered.” Gordon walked over to the suite’s synthesizer and ordered up two cold beers. While he waited, he stole a glance at his nervous, pacing friend. And he sighed, quietly, for a moment letting his enthusiastic façade slip while no one was paying attention.

_I’m definitely nervous too, Ed, just for completely different reasons than you are._

Gordon knew he should be happy for his best friend. Over the moon—over every moon of Saturn, in fact. Kelly was a terrific woman, everything that Ed deserved. He hadn’t been able to stop talking about her since they first met. And if Ed was convinced she was “the one”, then who was Gordon to question that?

Who was Gordon, indeed? Except a friend upset that he’d never be more than that. Who’d always been too shy and worried about messing things up to ever say anything, to dare ask if Ed could want more out of their relationship.

So he was the good friend. The _best_ friend, maybe. But always only that, and never more.

Still, he knew today was not the day to dwell on could-haves and should-have-beens. Today he’d stand by and support Ed and watch him get married, then get shit-faced at the reception and maybe even score an unfortunate hook-up before the night was over.

To make himself feel even more miserable come tomorrow morning, of course.

Yes, that sounded like a _splendid_ plan, he thought, as he fixed his smile once more and brought drinks out for the two of them. “Here you go.”

“Ah, thanks.” Ed took the chilled bottle and gave Gordon a nervous smile. “Cheers—and to the best friend a schmuck like me could ever hope for.”

“Ditto,” Gordon agreed, then swallowing his beer as he tried to swallow down the rest of his less-than-joyful emotions.

* * *

**II.**

“Thanks for coming through for me today, Ed. I owe you one.”

“Hey, not at all, I mean...what’s not to like about going to a wedding? Free food, free drinks, a bad cover band and people I’ll never see again in my life behaving badly…”

Gordon chuckled as they walked along through the warm summer night. The reception had finally wound down to the last few stragglers, and they both needed some fresh air to sober up enough to make it back to their hotel. Gordon’s cousin Cheryl had been the bride-to-be, and Gordon’s oroginal date had bailed on him two nights before. Instead of going stag and having to deal with his mother and nosy aunts trying to set him up, he’d asked Ed to come with him.

_“Like, as if we’re together-together? Or as a friend?”_

_“Whatever you’re comfortable with, to be honest. Anything so that Aunt Maggie doesn’t try to hook me up with one of the single women from her AA group.”_

_“Ouch.”_

“To be honest...I wasn’t sure you’d necessarily be up for going to a wedding right now,” Gordon confessed.

“It was fine!” Ed insisted. “In fact getting out for a night like tonight was probably just what I needed. Haven’t you been after me about not moping around my apartment any longer and getting out there again?”

“I have, yes.” Six months had passed since Ed had filed divorce papers...since he’d come home to find Kelly in bed with another man. A Retepsian, no less. And Gordon had spent much of those six months being Ed’s shoulder to cry on, roommate when he needed a place to crash until Kelly moved out, and his all around Agony Aunt and pro bono therapist.

Which was fine, because that’s what a best friend does. So it had been great to see Ed actually smiling again tonight, for the first time in months. Smiling, laughing, even getting up on stage with him to help sing a few songs to the newlyweds.

Ed hadn’t needed to know that when Gordon was singing “You Can’t Hurry Love” that he was singing it to Ed, and not in tribute to his cousin and her new husband. But that was what Gordon kept telling himself—he couldn’t hurry things or force their relationship along. Someday Ed would either wake up to what was right in front of him after all this time or he wouldn’t.

* * *

**III.**

“Chancellor Esal, thank you again for the honor of hosting so many of our crew members here tonight for this...truly unique and educational experience. You have gone above and beyond with your hospitality.”

“The honor is all ours, Captain Mercer. The Narojian people consider it a great privilege to welcome travelers of all kinds for a meal in our homes. In fact our great prophet, Choxass K’ju’ar, once said, ‘The alien traveling among you must be welcomed as a long-lost relative, for we are all but the children of the stars.’”

“He sounds like a very wise man, indeed.”

“Yeah but try saying that name three times fast,” Gordon muttered to Ed under his breath. Ed kicked his foot under the long banquet table.

“Yes, and now that our governing body has voted in favor of joining the Planetary Union, this meal is even more reason to celebrate, and to share our customs with you.”

“I do know the folks back home will be delighted by your government’s decision.” The Union had been courting Naroja for decades, what with their rich natural resources including many species of plants and herbs which not only were delicious but held the promise of great medicinal potential as well. But they were a species which was slow to accept change, despite their generous hospitality to visitors.

 _Slow to dine, too,_ Ed thought as he shifted in his chair...the one he’d been stuck in for the past four hours of this too-many-coursed meal.

 _Gonna need a session with a good masseuse after this...and a double cheeseburger. Or a pepperoni and sausage pizza._ The food so far _had_ been delicious, but not exactly satisfying for human appetites. One bite of this, one small spoon full of that, dining here seemed to be more about art, ritual and religion than actually about feeding the body. There were prayers to be said between every course, meanings given to whether one used the left or the right hand or utensil for each dish...but at least they had had ample time before to learn what to and what not to do at the Narojian table to avoid an interplanetary incident.

At least they had so far, and it seemed to finally be time for dessert....

Ed straightened himself up and his eyes widened in appreciation as servers now came out with platters laden with exotic looking fruits. “Oh my,” he said. _Finally, something substantial to chow down on._ Some of the other crew members seated around them, including Kelly and John, looked as ready to pounce as he felt.

“Ah, yes! We know those of you from Earth have a great taste for our produce, and it is customary to end a meal such as this with a bountiful offering of seasonal delights. And you are in luck to be here during the height of our growing season,” Esal said, beaming with pride.

“I’ll say,” Gordon piped in. As they saw Narojians reaching in to help themselves to the offerings, Ed did the same, going for the most intriguing fruit he saw—a big one, too. It looked rather like an orange, except turned inside out. It had a rich, ruby-like color with veins of creaminess within. Triangles of sweet-scented flesh spiked out from the purplish center, and he watched a Narojian peel off a piece and eat it as is—so he went ahead and did the same.

“Mmm,” he moaned as the juice of the fruit burst onto his tongue.

“That good?” Gordon asked.

“Oh my God yes.” He wasn’t one to normally have a, well, _orgasmic_ response to food (save the rare Twinkie he let himself indulge in when no one was looking). But this was like...a fruity margarita topped with whipped cream, drizzled in caramel sauce…and stuffed inside a Twinkie.

“The Gh'eiik is one of the most prized of all of our indigenous crops,” Esal’s assistant Ates said, seeing Ed’s reaction. “It only grows in the mountains of Flah-Ja, where trees take one hundred years to reach maturity and bear their luscious fruit.”

“You have _got_ to try this,” Ed insisted, pulling off a piece and holding it out for Gordon to try. Gordon had his hands deep into dissecting a fruit that looked rather like an angry head of broccoli, so he leaned in and let Ed pop it right in his mouth.

“Oh my God,” Gordon echoed.

“Am I right?”

“Dude, that is amazing. And...shit, why is everyone suddenly staring at us?”

Ed glanced around the long table, which had gone quiet save for some secretive whispering among the Narojians and the equally clueless Union officers chowing down on fruit.

 _Fuck, I hope I didn’t commit some grave faux pas of culinary etiquette that’s going to get us killed. Even this fruit isn’t_ that _good._ “Is...everything all right, Chancellor? Forgive me if we have done anything to offend.”

“Oh! No offense, Captain, but perhaps...congratulations are in order? You fed a section of the Gh'eiik to your companion, the lieutenant. On our world, that is...the final ritual of our wedding ceremonies. To feed another a piece of Gh'eiik is to pledge a life of joy, pleasure and satisfaction to them.”

Gordon started coughing...or was he trying to cover up laughter? Ed patted him on the back until he composed himself enough to say, “You didn’t even get me a ring yet, you bastard.”

“Congratulations,” Kelly put in with a teasing smile. “I always knew you two were perfect for each other.”

“Oh this is so exciting!” Lieutenant Dann put in with glee. “I do love weddings _so_ much!”

“Why couldn’t I have been sitting next to Talla?” Ed whined to Gordon, which earned _him_ an under-the-table kick in the shin.

* * *

**IV.**

Ed poked his head around the open door to Dr. Finn’s office. He knocked gently, not wanting to startle her out of her focused reading.

“Captain!” She looked up, her furrowed brow of concentration fading as she smiled at him. “Can I help you?”

“It’s no emergency or anything, if you’re busy.”

“Not at all. Just trying to work my way through a particularly dense journal article on alien communicative diseases, what might make some more susceptible to cross-species transmission and how to reduce those odds. Important information in our line of work, but I think I need Isaac to give me the Cliff Notes version.”

“Speaking of Isaac, I hear that...congratulations might be in order for the two of you?” Ed made an exaggerated nod and gestured toward her left hand.

“Oh! Yes, I suppose so,” Claire laughed, glancing down at the sparkling band around her ring finger. “Word does get around fast on this ship. And thank you. Isaac said it was the next logical step in our courtship, and I can’t exactly fault his reasoning in that regard. Even if it will seem a bit unconventional—and I’m not even sure if marrying an artificial lifeform is legally recognizable. Never mind one from Kaylon.”

“I’d say it’s the thought that counts more than anything else. And I know it’s taken a lot of hard work, and time, to rebuild your relationship.” Isaac might have saved Earth and countless other planets by turning against his people, but that didn’t mean it had been easy for Claire—or anyone else onboard the Orville—to overlook the deception and lying by omission that had lead up to that point.

“It has, but I suppose I have some hope that our union may, in some small way, help us _all_ come together. And I did tell him that a long engagement might be wise, before we start planning any ceremony—or I figure out how I’m going to explain this to my family back home. Anyway, tell me what has you concerned today. Are you feeling unwell?”

“Not physically, although I haven’t been sleeping all that well as a result of what’s been going on.” Ed sat down with a sigh, trying to think of how to bring this up without sounding more than a little crazy. “I’ve been having these... _dreams_ , on and off, for the past month or so.”

“Do you normally not dream, or not remember your dreams?”

“No, I do, sometimes, but...these feel _different_ , somehow. More _real_. Like sometimes I wake up and it takes a while for me to remember where I am, to…I don’t know, I can’t quite explain it. It’s like, I can’t shake the feeling the events I see in them really happened, even though I know they didn’t.”

Because they were dreams—flat out nightmares, sometimes—that seemed to tell of another path his life might have taken. A life where things had turned out very differently from the one he knew now.

It was a life where he’d never been captain of his own ship. One where he and Kelly had never gotten married...hell, they hadn’t made it past one date, though he hadn’t been able to figure out why she’d turned him down when he’d thought they’d hit it off so well.

It was a life where the Kaylons had not been stopped when they came to destroy Earth and all its organic lifeforms. One where they hadn’t stopped with the destruction of one world but next taken out Moclus, and then other members of the Planetary Union, until there was hardly anyone left alive except for those in deep hiding.

He was somehow one of those survivors, escaping death and destruction thanks to the one good constant throughout all these nightmarish visions.

Gordon.

They were still together through it all. Still friends...best friends. In fact, after a time, when there was no one else left they could rely on, it seems in this dream-reality that they’d become even more than that.

And that was the one part of these dreams Ed had come to realize he didn’t seem to mind one bit.

“From the look on your face, it seems like they’re more nightmares than simple dreams,” Claire said, interrupting his thoughts. He nodded. “A recurring nightmare can often suggest something your brain is trying to work out that you haven’t been dealing with, or have been unable to deal with, during waking hours. Something you haven’t acknowledged and is thereby causing you stress. Stress you might not even be consciously aware of.”

“That...could definitely be a possibility.”

“It can also be a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder. You know, I’ve had to provide counseling to more than a few crew since everything that happened—losing friends and co-workers, how close we came to losing everything. Have you...talked with anyone yourself about those events?”

“I have, but...maybe not as deeply as I should.”

“I’m always here if you need me for that. Or I can link you up with a good therapist back home on Earth who does remote counseling sessions if you’d prefer speaking with someone less...intimately involved in the situation. And of course, if you’re at all concerned it’s something medical causing your recurring dreams and nightmares, I could do a brain imaging scan to check for abnormalities, along with a full physical work-up.”

“Yeah, maybe. If I want to rule out that possibility.”

“I can put that on my schedule for tomorrow, it shouldn’t take more than an hour or so.”

“That’s be great, thanks, Doctor.”

“Anytime, Captain.”

Ed didn’t want it to be physical. Wasn’t sure he wanted it to be “just” PTSD or unresolved stress from his life, either. But now he had to figure out exactly what he _did_ want it to be.

* * *

**V.**

“Captain, may I have a moment to speak with you.”

“Of course, Bortus. Come in,” Ed said, glancing up from his desk. It had been a slow day in transit to Rana 3, where they were headed to check on the progress of their new defense systems. He could use a distraction from his Second Officer.

“I have come to inform you that it is approaching time for my Ja’loja.”

“Again? Wow, seems like it was only yesterday.”

“It has in fact been almost a year.”

“Yes, I remember that’s how it works. Just give me the date you need to be back on Moclus to...take care of business. These exercises on Rana 3 should take less than a week, and I’ll make sure to let command back home know where we need to head next—in case they want us to take care of anything there while we’re on pee-break.”

“Thank you, Captain. And, as before, I would like to request the presence of members of the crew, all those who would wish to attend the ritual.”

“Attend, with a date, of course.”

“Yes, as is customary.”

“I’m sure we’ll all be there with bells on.”

“Bells are not necessary.”

“It’s a human figure of speech, Bortus.”

“I see. Good day, Captain.”

Bortus left, and Ed found himself thinking. A lot sure had happened in the past year, as he reflected back upon it. Good things, bad things, crazy things...all the things that made life on The Orville, well...a life like no other. And if they were going to celebrate another year passing and to do so with the people they cared most about, then Ed knew exactly who he was going to ask to join him.

Because maybe it was the perfect time—finally the _right_ time—to address those unresolved issues still running through his dreams.

*

Gordon was doing nothing much but bingeing on old Earth cartoons and eating his way through a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Chubby Hubby when Ed showed up at his cabin door unexpectedly—but certainly not unwelcomely. “Hey, Ed! What’s up?”

“Not much. What are you watching, anything good?”

“Just _Futurama_ episodes for the twenty-third time or so. Want to join me?”

“Hell yeah.”

“Grab a spoon, too, if you want some ice cream before I eat it all.”

They sat for a while, laughing, sharing jokes, eating ice cream...and the way it was so damn comfortable made Ed feel sure about what he wanted to do next.

“Say, Gordon, I...had a question for you.”

“Go on.”

“You heard we’re headed to Moclus next.”

“For the big Ja’loja bash? I can’t wait.”

“Do you...have a date for it yet?”

“No, in fact I hadn’t even started thinking about who I might ask. Not many left on crew that haven’t shot me down yet, to be honest. Why, you have someone in mind?”

“Yeah, I do. How about...wanna go with me?”

Gordon blinked. “Like, go as if we’re together-together? Or just as friends-together?”

“As in, I think I’m an idiot for not seeing what’s been in front of me all this time. _You_. And, technically, we _are_ married already, at least according to some species and customs, so...what do you say?”

“I say don’t expect to be leaving these quarters until tomorrow morning.” And Gordon tossed aside the nearly empty ice cream carton and went for a kiss that had been years in the waiting.

It was worth every moment of that wait.


End file.
